What Gives Us Pain
by The Gong O Doom
Summary: AU story in season 5. Tim Riggins moves into Casa de Taylor after he is released from prison Tami, Tim, Eric, Gracie, Julie and a few other characters appear.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **I own EVERYTHING. Glad we got THAT settled.

Now then, this came directly from **ICanStopAnytime ** and her comment/review of my story **Breaking of the Shell**. She wrote that she'd like to see a continuation of sorts of that story where Tim moved in to Casa de Taylor, so of course that roiled and bounced around in my head until I said screw it and wrote this. It's AU of course, which means we get the cute beyond words team of Payton and Jordan Taylor wagging their tails and lying on Coach's lap in adorable fashion. I suppose this is also a sequel or continuation of **Breaking of the Shell**. Now if only **ICanStopAnytime** will get working on that story about Eric's adventure/travails coaching a girls football team like I suggested. C'mon, we all want to read that story, so start pestering **ICanStopAntime** to write it. I realize that an actual 3 year old probably wouldn't be as sophisticated in her language as Gracie Belle is here, but we all know EVERY child of Eric and Tamu=i Taylor is going to be EXTRA gifted. As for reviews, blah blah, seething hatred, you know the drill.

* * *

**"We forget very easily what gives us pain."**

-Graham Greene

* * *

Eric was reading when Tami came into their bedroom. He waited until she'd gotten settled under the covers, and marked his place in his book with an index card. "I talked with Tim and his parole officer and Buddy today."

"All at once?"

"Yeah, Buddy has an in over at the jail, like he does everywhere else. Annoying as he is, it does help that he knows everyone and that he can lean on people and that people owe him."

"Well, I don't like it when he leans on you or on us."

"You think I do? It isn't so much that he leans on me, it's that he has some scheme or plan that he's halfway through that gets sprung on me so I get the blame if it gets found out. But I didn't want to have a _complain about Buddy Garrity_ talk, this was supposed to be about Tim."

"Alright, but Buddy is involved with this, right?"

"Yeah. The basics of it are that Tim can't live with Billy or Mindy until his probation is up in two years. He can see Billy, but it has to be supervised, like if we had Mindy and Billy over for supper. Tim can't go near Riggins Rigs for two years and he can't work at a car dealership or gas station or car repair shop or towing or storage company or car parts store, pretty much anything having to do with motor vehicles. That includes being a driving instructor. The cops eyes are gonna be on Riggins Rigs for a while 'cause they don't believe that Tim could have done all that by himself, no way, they think Billy had to be in on it as well."

"Do you think that, do you think Tim took the fall for Billy?"

Eric rubbed his face. "Yeah, they were in it together. But Tim wasn't gonna let the two of them go into prison and leave Mindy there to raise their kid alone. It-I don't want to say it was an honorable thing he did, but it was brave."

"Would you have done it?"

Eric's face flushed. "I wouldn't have gotten in the damn situation in the first place. A chop shop? Jesus." Eric shook his head. "It's not just that they don't think of the consequences, they don't even believe there are consequences."

"Well, that's because they pretty much had to raise each other and they were both really good high school football players in Texas, they didn't have to face the consequence of their parents being called because they skipped school or were caught drinking. It caught up with them finally and they're paying the price. And sugar, I think it's kind of hypocritical for you to be castigating them now when I can think of several times when you begged and pleaded with me not to have Tim flunk a class or suspend him because you happened to have an important game that particular week. You enabled his behavior." Tami leaned over and kissed him. "But I am not gonna get in a fight or an argument with you about this, 'cause that isn't what this is about, right?"

"No. So Tim's job options are really limited. I can't imagine him lasting a week at a place like the Alamo Freeze or some other restaurant, same for working a retail job like Target. He'd get bored and start goofing off and fired 'fore he got through his third day."

"So what is he going to do, collect unemployment?"

"It'd be tough. A lot of ex-cons apply and get denied, and Tim's work ethic in terms of going out and looking for work probably isn't very good. But Buddy said that he would give Tim a job at his bar."

"Doing what?"

"Tending bar, cleaning up, maybe a little bouncer type stuff."

"He can't, he's not 21."

"He's gonna be 21 in two months. You know he was held a back a year on purpose; he was 19 when he graduated. That isn't that unusual if you play football in Texas or Ohio. Look, I've been thinking about this, so has Tim and Buddy, this is pretty much the only job he's gonna be able to get for a while. He could maybe get some piecemeal handyman jobs here and there, but he needs something steady, every day." Tami frowned. "What is it?"

"I'm confused about Buddy, why he's doing this? I mean he was not happy when Tim and Lyla were together, I think he still believes Tim is somehow responsible for Buddy's losing the car dealership, there has to be some angle to this, don't you?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. Buddy was angry with Tim for going out with Lyla, and her saying she was gonna follow Tim to San Antonio State, but Tim convincing her to go to Vanderbilt got him some points. You think all Buddy is motivated by is Dillon football and how well the team does and he is, but there's more to him than that. I was surprised as hell to hear him say that he'd speak on Tim's behalf in front of the parole board, before I got the chance to I would. The cynical part of me says that Buddy sees what Tim did with the chop shop as some horrible stain on the legacy of Dillon football and this was something to give Buddy an in to erase it somehow, but I think he also does care about Tim, that isn't just talk, he hated seeing Tim being brought before the parole board in handcuffs and leg chains. I think he wants Tim to redeem himself, like you and I do."

"So…"

"So I think that when Tim gets released from prison he should move in with us. Buddy had mentioned it to the parole officer, about Tim moving in with him, but that business with Santiago nixed that. The parole officer said he'd ask, but didn't think there'd be any problems. We would need to go over to Tim and Billy's house and get his clothes and stuff and talk the situation over with Billy and Mindy."

"What about Julie and Gracie?"

"You or I call Julie and tell her what's going on and we can tell Gracie tomorrow. She'll love it."

"Is he going to have a curfew? What about chores and such?"

"Curfew?"

"If Tim is going to live with us, he's not going to be staggering in drunk at one in the morning. And you aren't going to be playing ping pong with him in the garage at four in the morning either. And honestly, I don't really want him having a beer with you or a glass of whisky after he turns 21."

"Not even to celebrate?"

"Eric, he's pretty much the definition of a functional alcoholic and while I want to help him and I care about him, I'm not gonna enable him while he's living here. When he gets released we'll bring him here and sit him down and lay it out for him."

"A'ight, I see you and hear you. As far as chores go, mowing the lawn and babysitting Grace, taking Payton and Jordan out to the dog park or on walks, laundry and helping clean up, maybe even some cooking." Eric looked at Tami. "Will we pay him for babysitting? I still pay Julie."

'Yes I think we do pay him, the same that Julie gets."

* * *

The next morning Gracie, Eric and Tami were having breakfast. "Gracie Belle, you remember Tim Riggins?"

"Uncle Tim."

"That's right."

"I remember, did he move or something, I haven't seen him in a while."

Tami and Eric looked across the table at each other. "Well, he's—he had to go away for a time, but he's gonna be coming back and your mom and I have been talking and thinking and it looks like Tim will be staying with us."

"You mean, like sleeping over? What about his house?"

"He can't stay at his house, at least not for a while, and, well it would be really hard for him to find another place to live, so he'd be living here."

"How long?"

"I—we—I don't know, we think it's gonna be a couple of months, maybe more. He's gonna be staying in the guest room."

"What if Aunt Shelley comes over, are they both going to sleep in the guest room?"

Tami snorted and covered her mouth while she laughed. Eric's brow furrowed and he grimaced. He started to say something but Tami cut him off. "Well, Aunt Shelly far as I know is busy with her new job."

"What about Christmas? Isn't she coming for Christmas?"

"No, she's going to visit your grandmother."

"Does Julie know?"

"I'm going to call her today and let her know."

"Can Tim and I play dress up? Can we play dolls?"

"You'll have to ask him when he gets here, I'm sure he'll play with you, he told me you are really good at braiding his hair."

Eric stared goggle eyed at Tami when he heard that.

"When is he going to be here, is he coming today?"

"No, not today, if things go well, in about a week, maybe a little longer."

* * *

In her office that afternoon Tami called Julie's cellphone.

"Hey mom."

"Hello Jules, how's things?"

"Okay, I have three papers due on Friday and a couple of tests."

"Well I'll try not to keep you long; do you have a couple of minutes?"

"Sure, and I—I wanted to ask you something."

"What?"

"I—you go first."

"Okay. You know that Tim Riggins has been in jail since last November, haven't you?"

"I heard some people talking a about a few times at school, he got in a fight and crippled some guy or he tried to rob Panther Pizza." Tami sighed. "Mom, you aren't rolling your eyes are you?"

"I swear it's being in the middle of the worst game of Telephone living here sometimes. No Tim did not beat up anybody or try and rob anyone. He and Billy were running a chop shop out of Riggins Rigs and they got caught and Tim took all the blame."

"But Billy knew about it."

"More than knew about it he helped out with it, but, look Tim took the blame, let's just leave it there for now. Your dad and I have both visited him in prison and we've been thinking and talking about the situation and we've decided that he's going to move in and live with us for a while when he gets out, which should be in ten days, if everything goes well with the parole board. "

"Why is he going to live with us, I mean he and Billy have their own house, don't they?"

"From what we've heard and learned it could be a parole violation if he lives in his house, he and Billy aren't supposed to see other without supervision. Tim can't work at a place that has anything to do with motor vehicles, if he does it's a parole violation. Your dad and I have already talked it over but we wanted to call you and tell you about it. Will you be okay if Tim is living with us for a while?"

"How long is he going to be with us?"

"We don't know, probably a few months."

"It's fine with me; I'm only going to be home for a few weeks until the semester starts up, but it's okay. Thanks for telling me."

"Of course, honey. What was it you wanted to ask me?" There was silence on the line. "Julie, are you okay?"

"Mom is dad still upset with me, about, yo—you know, Derek?"

Tami frowned. "Do you think he is?"

"I guess, I mean, he never calls, it's always you calling and he'll come on and talk for a few minutes, but then he puts you back on."

"I don't know that he's still upset with you, but he is hurt and I guess he doesn't understand how it could have happened. And you know he'd never come out and ask you about it. He and I did lose some respect for you, but we both still love you very much. Your dad will come around; he mentioned the other day that he missed you being sassy to him at breakfast."

"What? I was never sassy to him."

"Julie Taylor. You have my and Shelley's sassiness and you know it."

Tami could hear Julie sigh. "I suppose. How are Gracie and the puppies?"

"Doing fine. Your dad lets Gracie hold Payton's leash for a while when they walk. Not the whole time. She's enjoying daycare and looking forward to seeing Tim."

"So am I. And I promise, he won't be taking me to any parties and coming home drunk."

"Good to know. Well, I've got a student in a couple of minutes so I'm going to go. I love you and it was good talking to you."

"I love you too, mom. Will you tell dad I love him, and Gracie?"

"Of course."

"And can you give Payton and Jordan some pats and maybe a tummy rub?"

Tami laughed. "If I can get Payton out of your dad's lap I will."


	2. Chapter 2

**Ten days later…**

Tami opened the front door and went inside followed by Eric and Tim; they all sat at the dining room table. Tim yawned and said, "Where's G Belle and the puppies?"

"Payton and Jordan are getting a bath and a haircut and Gracie is over at her friend Louise's for a sleepover. We didn't think it'd be a good idea to drop you right in the middle of everything and we wanted to sit and lay out the rules and guidelines without having Gracie running around or the dogs wanting pats every five minutes." Tim yawned again.

"What time did you get up this morning?"

"They woke us up at about 2:45."

Tami's eyes widened. "What? How can they do that?"

Tim shrugged. "Because it's a prison. In Texas. I was talking to a guy a couple of months ago, a Gulf war vet who assaulted someone and he said prison was worse than basic training. He said in basic there was a small part of yourself that you had control over, but in prison you don't have anything. If you talk back to the guards you can go to solitary or get jumped on the yard by some inmates that the guards know. Anyway, they got us up , and then we got to sit around and wait for a few hours, they took a couple of people out, then they took everyone who was getting released out of the pod to a hallway and we waited there."

"For how long?"

"I guess about four hours. We had to stand the whole time. You could lean against the wall but you couldn't sit or lie down. There was a door and window that led to an office in the hall and I just got so bored I made my way over to see if there was a clock on the wall. One of the guards jumped on me fast, had his baton out and was screaming at me wanting to know what I was doing. I told him the truth, I was bored and wanted to see what was in there, see if there was a clock. He said that he could make sure I had all the time in the world to see. And he meant it, even though I was supposed to be released, he could have kept me there or in solitary just about as long as he wanted, just make up a reason.

Tim looked at Tami who was frowning. "You get used to it. I spent the first three weeks just sitting and watching. Figuring out the order of things and who you can and can't sit next to or talk to. A lot of it is racial, the Aryan Nation is all over the prison system and there's black gangs and Hispanic gangs. But it doesn't really make sense, like you can't go near certain areas of the exercise yard or sit in certain places in the cafeteria, but you can end up working alongside some of the same people you aren't supposed to go near on the yard."

Eric looked at Tami. "As much as you might want to go back to the prison and give them a piece of your mind about this, you know it's not gonna do any good, so can you please shelve that for now?"

"Of course sugar. So, it looks like it was a good idea to have the house be empty when we got home. I think it might be a good idea if you took a nap or maybe just sleep after we're done here." Tim nodded.

Tami looked down at a legal pad. "Eric and your parole officer talked with you about where you can and can't go, no working at any place that has anything to do with motor vehicles. "That limits your job possibilities a lot, but Buddy is giving you a job at his place. And Eric and I have thought and talked about it and decided that we will pay you to babysit and puppysit occasionally and there are some chores to do around here and Eric would also appreciate it if you'd help out keeping the field in shape and maybe doing some things with the team."

"What kind of chores?"

"Do you know how to cook?"

"I can make a pretty good Denver omelet, scrambled eggs, grill a burger or steak. I never made Thanksgiving dinner or anything really fancy."

Tami smiled. "Well, we're not really fancy eaters. If Eric had his way he'd have steak or a burger for all three meals."

"What about Julie isn't she a vegamatarian?"

"She doesn't eat steak, but she'll have chicken and I know she's had some burgers from the Alamo Freeze. But she does eat more than salad."

"Well, I'll do whatever I can. If you want me to make mac and cheese from the box I can handle that and if you show me how to put something together or write it down, I'll give it a try. And if it burns or whatever, I'll pay for a Panther pizza, I get a discount, thanks to seven."

"It won't be an everyday thing making dinner, but I'll let you know. And we'll all go out sometimes, to Applebee's or the Alamo Freeze."

"I don't mean to interrupt, but does Julie know about this, about me living here?"

""I called her last week and talked with her about it, she's fine with it, she promised not to take you to any parties," Tami smiled and glanced at Eric. "She's only going to be here for a few weeks, but she's glad you have a place to stay and looking forward to seeing you."

Eric leaned forward. "As for other chores, keeping your room neat, helping with the laundry, mowing the lawn, walking the dogs with me and Gracie or just you and Gracie. The team," Eric sighed. ""I've talked about it with Buddy and a couple of people at the state athletic board. I can't officially hire you as a coach, and we don't have the money to pay what a coach would get, so your official position is intern. I'd like you to help keep the field in good shape, help with the mowing and yard lines and such on game days. I was thinking that you can help out with the running backs, you helped Luke out a bit last year, and I'd like to build on that if you could."

"Whatever I can do, whatever you want me to do. Do I get a hat?"

"In fact you do. I'll bring one home tomorrow night."

"Thanks." Tim yawned.

"Alright, I don't want you falling asleep here at the table, but we're almost done I think. You and Billy. You two are going to see each other when you're helping with the team, but I know you want to see Stevie and Mindy, right?"

"I do, but I can't without supervision and, Billy and I tend to pick at each other and with what happened," Tim shrugged.

Tami pursed her lips. "That's true, you two know each other's hot buttons and have no problem pushing them, but you do love each other, and you're family. We were thinking of inviting Billy and Mindy and Stevie over here for dinner a few times in the next while, that way it's supervised but it's not your parole officer."

"And if you two do feel the need to go at it, I'll have you two put on pads and run the Oklahoma drill a few times. " Eric looked at Tami. "Drinking. You are not going to drink any alcohol in this house. That is not negotiable. I know you're gonna be working at a bar and that is its own thing. I have talked with Buddy and he does not want you getting drunk and trying to tend bar or do whatever he's gonna be having you do over there. But he is Buddy Garrity and," Eric waved his hand. "We do not want you coming stumbling into the house drunk at two in the morning. That is not acceptable. Now, if you're over at Buddy's and you do have a few beers you are going to call us and I'll come pick you up. Doesn't matter what time it is. You aren't going to be driving drunk. We'd much rather you didn't drink at all. Is this understood?"

"Yes sir."

Tami reached across the table and took Tim's hand. "Tim, look at me. This isn't us being mean, you understand that?"

"Yeah, it's just, I know me and you guys know me, or you've heard stuff about me and I, I don't want to fuck this up," Tim looked at Tami, "sorry. But, I've been drinking beer since I was about ten and getting drunk since I was twelve."

"Okay. But you didn't drink while you were in prison, did you?"

"I tried some of the hooch that a couple of long timers were selling;" Tim shook his head "did not go down right. But I didn't get the shakes or go into withdrawal or anything. I like to have some beers, not because I'm depressed or have ADD or anything. If you two have had ideas about me seeing a counselor or therapist, I don't think I need one."

Tami looked at Tim and then at Eric. "Okay, that's fine. But you understand what Eric said about drinking, right? You are on a very short leash right now, a couple of them actually and if you get yanked by one of them you can end up back in prison, and we don't want that, Billy doesn't want that, you don't want that. The thing is, you have a history of not only not thinking about the consequences of your actions, you don't care that there are consequences. You aren't in high school anymore. You graduated. If you get pulled over and have been drinking or show up at the Landing Strip with Billy that isn't going to get hand waved away like in high school. You'll go back to prison and you won't get out until you serve the whole sentence. That's ten years. That would kill Billy and Mindy and you.

"You have a chance now to start fresh. You're starting out pretty low and it's not going to be easy, but Eric and I will do as much as we can to help you. You have that land outside of town. It's beautiful. You've got some hills, some trees; you've even got a lake."

"It's a pond."

"It's a pond now, but it can get bigger right? And I bet you've been thinking about a house on that land."

Tim smiled. "Yeah."

"Does it have a porch?"

"Wraparound, with half of it screened in. I haven't decided if the front or the back gets the screens and a patio off the back."

"That sounds really nice."

"Yeah, but it's gonna take forever to build it."

"You going to do it yourself?"

"Me and Billy and I don't know maybe Buddy, a couple of other people. That big lineman you've got coach, Tinker, he helped Luke and his dad out last year. But it's money more than anything."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that right away, if you want we can sit down later and talk about it and put together a plan for saving. And I'm pretty sure you could get at least a little discount at a couple of the lumber yards with the whole, '_Hey it's Riggs!'_ thing."

Eric frowned. "I don't know about that."

"Sugar you didn't have a problem when Jason Street did that exact thing a couple of years ago."

"Jason wasn't in the same situation that Tim is. I mean, yeah he'd probably get the discount, but I sure wouldn't march in there the first time and ask for it. You go in, order some material and whatnot at the regular price, spend some time talking to the folks there, I'd go along with you, even though I'm a lousy carpenter, I bet Buddy would go too, he can talk anyone out of anything. But like Tami said, that's a ways off."

"One last thing." Tami got up and went over to the bookcase by Eric's chair, took a folder off the shelf, came back and handed the folder to Tim as she sat down. "That is a catalog for Dylan Community College and an application for admission as well as some pamphlets about various activities. Did you take the SAT or ACT?

"SAT."

"What did you score?"

"I think a thousand, eleven hundred, something like that."

"Good for you. On the application it does ask about criminal history, I thought it would, more and more colleges have it on the application, and I went and talked with a counselor and one of the administrators about you. They said that there's a good chance they'd want to talk with you and have you explain what happened, I don't necessarily agree with that, but that's their policy for now. If you do have to have this talk Eric and I will be glad to go with you if you want and if you want to go by yourself I'd still like to sit and talk about the kinds of questions they'd probably ask. One good thing about the school is they have rolling admissions; they have classes starting every couple of weeks. How about you look that over and we'll talk in a few days."

"Yes ma'am. Thank you for getting this and for talking to the administrators. And thank you both for letting me stay at Casa de Taylor."

"You're welcome, Tim. Would you like a sandwich or something?"

"No, I'm okay; I think I'd like to take a shower and crash."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note:** Look I know how many FNL fans LURVE the whole "Tulie ship" thing and in a perfect world that stupid Matt Saracen would never have gotten his stuttering mangy paws on Julie, she'd have been swept off her feet by Tim "He's SO Dreamy When His Hair is In His Eyes!" Riggins blah, blah, blah and yes yes you can do anything and go anywhere you want with Fan Fiction, but I've never understood it and never gotten it. Which is a long way of writing that those of you who have latched onto this story hoping for some steamy 'Tim bones Julie in the back of his pickup truck on the land he bought at sunset while mourning doves coo and fly all around them,' action or storyline, **NOT GONNA HAPPEN**. To put it plainly, **THIS IS NOT A TULIE STORY.**

* * *

**Five hours later**.

Tami walked down the hall and stood by the dining room table. Eric was sitting on his throne, watching tape and occasionally making notes on a yellow legal pad. He glanced over. "Tim still asleep?"

"That boy is out cold." Tami frowned.

"What is it?"

"Do you really think this is a good idea?"

"Wha—it's a little late now to have second thoughts, he's already asleep in the guest room, and I am not gonna be the one who tells him he has to leave. You really think it's gonna be too hard for him to live up to the rules we set?"

"It's Tim Riggins. He's gotten by his entire life on his name and the fact that he was pretty good at football."

"And that's over. That was a whole other life. You pretty much said the same thing when you visited him in jail. Do I think he's gonna screw up a few times? I hope not, but I'm not gonna be surprised. But I do think he had the fear of God put in him by prison, more than he would ever tell anyone. And I hate to say this, but I like to think that same fear of going back there would bring him up short before he did anything stupid. Is this all about Tim or is it about Tim and Buddy?"

"Working in a bar and telling him he can't drink?"

"We didn't say he absolutely couldn't drink, we said we couldn't drink in this house. And that he's not going to be stumbling in drunk from a bar or from Buddy's. I'm sure he's gonna have a beer every once in a while he's working, but he **will** call and I'll go get him. Or Buddy will give him a ride**. **That aside, where is he gonna go if we make him leave? Dillon doesn't have a homeless shelter. He could buy a tent and sleeping bag and live out on his land. Look, it's gonna take hard work and I'm gonna have to yell at him a couple of times, but if you didn't believe in him and I didn't believe in him we wouldn't be where we are right now. We don't expect him to get a doctorate in anything, but you can be damn sure I'll be cheering and applauding when he walks across that stage and gets his bachelor's degree, no matter what it's in. And so will you." He looked at his watch. "You want me to go get the puppies?"

"No, I'll go. I think we'll have steak tonight, if you wouldn't mind manning the grill."

"You want me to mash some potatoes too?"

"That would be nice, and I don't know, maybe some corn, I think there's a box in the freezer."

"Should I put one on for Tim?"

"Yes, but if he doesn't wake up, let him sleep." Tami took two leases off the hook on the wall and swung her purse over her shoulder. "I'll be back in about half an hour, okay sugar?"

"Yes, ma'am." Eric winked at her as she left.

Half an hour later Eric was out on the deck occasionally turning the steaks on the grill with a pair of tongs. He heard the front door close, followed by whining and yipping, so he put the tongs down and opened the screen door and bent over to greet the two dogs that ran toward him. The smaller of the two gave him a cursory lick, then turned and sniffed the air, barked and then ran back inside. "Payton, where the hell are you going?" Eric patted Jordan who whined and kissed Eric's face, Eric walked inside to find Tami standing by the door to the guest room. He peered inside and saw Payton curled up on the bed next to the lump under the covers that was Tim Riggins. Tami closed the door and walked out to the deck with Eric and Jordan following. Eric was grumbling as he picked up the tongs and jabbed at the steaks.

"What is it sugar?"

"Nothing."

"C'mon now."

"I don't, why is Payton in love with Tim Riggins?"

Tami laughed. "She isn't in love with him."

"Really? She was out here for about ten seconds and then she caught his scent and whoosh, next thing I know she's snuggled up next to him on the bed. Whenever he comes over she turns into this whining, moaning, squealing, panting ball of fur. She's never been that affectionate towards me."

"Seriously? The same dog who falls asleep in your lap every night whole you watch game tape and whines and cries if you put her down? You're jealous."

"I am not. Whenever he's come over she's I don't know fawning all over him and following him everywhere and actually whining for him to pick her up and let sit on his lap. She's never done that with me."

"Well, dogs are pretty empathetic; you remember how they wouldn't leave Julie's side after Matt left. I'm not saying they have ESP but maybe we give off different odors depending on our moods and dogs smell that. Whatever it is, I'm not going to get her off the bed. Tim needs some rest and some comfort and some love. And I love you and Jordan loves you, right Jordan?"

Jordan didn't even stop gnawing his favorite nylabone, just wagged his tail three times. Eric turned back to the grill and muttered under his breath. Tami hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.

* * *

**The next morning**

Eric walked into the kitchen and saw Tim by the stove looking at a frying pan, which held an omelet. Payton was sitting by his side looking at Tim with puppy dog eyes. "Morning."

"Morning coach, the paper's on the counter. You want me to make you one?"

Eric chewed his lip for a second. "Yeah. Please. Just cheese though, not peppers or meat. And maybe make it extra-large, we'll give the puppies a treat for breakfast."

Tami came bustling in pushing her hair behind her ears. "Morning Tim, did you sleep all night?"

"Yes ma'am, I'm sorry that I was so tired and missed dinner."

Tami waved her hand. "That's alright. You needed that sleep. Was Payton there when you woke up?"

Tim smiled. "Yes ma'am."

"She's pretty sweet on you."

Tim shrugged. " I guess. Better her than Julie." Tim winced and glanced at Eric. "Sorry Coach."

"That's a'ight, that was a misunderstanding and Julie's got –college stuff going on. What're your plans for today?"

"Buddy said he'd give me a call when he wanted me to start working, but I guess you talked him into giving me a couple of days to acclimate." Tim glanced at Tami. "Figured I'd get started on my intern position at East Dillon."

Eric looked from Tami to Tim. "Well, we appreciate the initiative, but we thought it'd be best if we let you rest for a couple days. You can sit Gracie and the puppies and look over the catalog from Dillon College, after dinner we'll talk about enrolling and classes and stuff. I know you want to make a fresh start and that's great, but let's ease into it."

"Are you sure? I'm ready to get out there and mow or line the field."

"I was planning on having you do that Thursday after practice, Coach Straub and I'll help out."

"Okay. Do you want me to make dinner?"

Eric pursed his lips and looked at Tami. "Spaghetti? I can pick up some bread after practice if you," he nodded at Tami, "remind me. Unlike chili I don't like spaghetti sauce to be very spicy."

Tim smiled. "Fair enough."

* * *

**Later that afternoon.**

Gracie was taking a nap and Tim was lying on the couch reading the college catalog when the phone rang. "Taylor residence."

"Tim?"

"Jules. How's college?"

"What are you doing at our h-wait, I'm sorry mom and I talked about it, I've just been swamped. How are you?"

"Good."

"Tim, how _are_ you?"

The only sound was the hum on the phone line.

"Tim?"

"You know Julie, everyone has things they lock away and never tell anyone about ever. Not even their shrink. I told your parents, one of the worst parts about prison is you don't have any control over anything, including yourself. One really bad time I was on the medical wing for a checkup and we went on lockdown. Which in this case meant me and 18 other guys in a five by ten foot cell for four hours? I've never been claustrophobic, but that flipped a switch in me. How do you like college?"

Julie sighed. "I—I guess it's not what I thought it would be like, but I don't really know what I thought it would be like apart from being on my own and away from mom and dad and Gracie and the puppies. Has my dad grumbled about how Payton being in love with you yet?"

"No, he hasn't said anything. I crashed a couple hours after I got her and slept all day and night, getting acclimated to the outside world. Your dad's gonna have me prepping the field Thursday so, I guess I'll get into a routine." He signed. "How are you and Seven doing?"

More humming on the line.

"Jules?"

"We broke up; I mean I broke up with him last Thanksgiving."

"That's too bad. Do you still talk at all?"

"Yeah I wen—I mean we email every so often and call each other I once a week. You didn't know that we broke up?"

"I never heard it directly from anyone; he and I talked about you when we were out hunting. Well, we talked about me and Lyla and you and Seven."

"What did he say?"

"Basically he said that he was staying in Dillon because of you because he loved you, because he loves you instead of going off to whatever art school he applied to, and then you were applying to all of these colleges on the other side of the country and he was mad about it, but he said that you never asked him to stay." Tim sighed. "It's like you kind of waved away what he gave up to stay with you."

"So he left because the colleges I applied to weren't all in Texas? I'm the only reason that he left?"

"No. There isn't one reason why he left. Or two, it's a bunch of things. Maybe he left partly because he loves you so much." Julie sighed. "You sigh a lot."

"Yeah, and I also roll my eyes a lot. It drives my dad nuts. Speaking of that, aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"I was going to start interning for your dad, but your parents want me to take a couple of days, I'm gonna work on the field Thursday and start working at Buddy's Saturday. And I'm kinda working right now, I'm watching Gracie and the dogs, and yes I'm getting paid just like you do."

"And Payton is snuggled up right next to you."

"Actually she's asleep on my stomach. Look, do you know anything about Dillon Community College, about the teachers and stuff?"

"I thought you tried the college thing and didn't like it."

"It's more complicated than that. Your mom has been nudging me about taking a class to help with structure."

Julie snorted. "'Nudging.' Just like she did with Tyra. I would pretty much avoid the art department at least this one guy, I can't remember his name, I don't even know if he teaches there anymore. Matt was kind of his apprentice, more like his slave. Do you have a catalog?"

"Your mom got one and the forms. I've been looking through the classes."

"Does anything jump out at you?"

Tim mumbled. "Woodworking."

"What?"

"Woodworking."

"Okay, that's good."

"Good for what?"

"Well, you have that land, right? Which I'm guessing you bought because you thought how nice it would be to sit on a porch and look at it, but there isn't a house or anything on it. And you already know how to work with tools, Riggins Rigs and all. This isn't that much different."

"Is there some point where you actually say that I want to build the house or whatever it is by myself and this class might help with that?"

"No, you already did that, that's why it jumped out at you. Look at it like this; it's a tool or a skill for your toolbox. You can work on cars and you can make furniture or build a house. Look, I'm sure my mom said pretty much the same thing to you."

"Both of 'em have, I don't know, I'm starting out at the bottom."

"So was Tyra and look where she is."

"Are you worried about motivation?"

"More like I'll get bored and drop out again."

"Maybe it's because you look at it as four months of classes or however long it is. You're paying for it, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, then what you could do is figure out how much each class costs. That way if you wake up and don't feel like going to class one day you say to yourself, 'Well, that's twenty dollars or however much it is wasted.' That's a few six-packs of beer."

"I'm not allowed to drink while I'm living here."

"And yet you're gonna be working at a bar."

"Yeah, I'm sure your parents have had that discussion a couple of times and they touched on it the other day. And you know that if you keep poking me about it I'm liable to drink just because and that means I'm sleeping in the bed of my truck on my land."

"My mom wouldn't do that, and I don't think she'd let my dad do that. They want you to succeed and you know they'll do as much as they can to help. But you have to do the work."

"I know. Hey, you ever talk to Landry?"

"I get emails from him every couple of weeks; he said he's taking 24 credits so he doesn't have a lot of free time. Do you want me to send you his email address?"

"Well, that'd be tricky since I don't have one. I'll ask your mom if it's okay if I set one up on the computer here."

"Tim, you don't have to ask."

"Remember what happened with the cable last time I stayed here, you're mom wasn't happy."

"Aunt Shelly got a kick out of it."

"Your aunt gets a kick out of anything that annoys your dad. Why did you call here right now, you know your parents are at school."

"I wanted to talk to you, to find out if it was true, that you're actually staying at our house, and to see how you're feeling. You mentioned claustrophobia; you know you can talk to my mom about it, about what happened to you in prison."

"Jules I—"  
"You can. She's not going to judge you. But if you don't feel comfortable, you can ask her and she can find a therapist or counselor for you."

"Which costs money, which I have very little of right now and probably for a while."

"Not everything is set in stone. You can talk about and explain your situation. And you don't have to go every week; it can be once a month, whatever you need. Look, I've gotta go to class."

"Yeah."

"Hey, I'm happy you're out and that you've got a place to stay and I look forward to watching you and Gracie play dress up when I'm home on break."

Tim laughed. "Yeah, that's probably not gonna happen. It was good to talk to you Jules."


	4. Chapter 4

**That evening.**

Tim was playing Go Fish with Gracie and Tami at the dinner table, while Eric was in his chair watching tape, Eric occasionally glancing over and frowning when he saw Payton sitting at Tim's feet.

"So, beside a couple of walks and a nap what else happened here today?"

"I read through the catalog and talked to Julie for a little while."

"Julie called? Is everything ok?"

"Yeah. I mean, I asked her how she and Seven were doing, I didn't know they broke up. I told her about maybe taking a class and working for Coach and at Buddy's. She said she was looking forward to playing dress up with me and G Belle. As long as there aren't any cameras around."

Tami laughed. "Hey now, you and Smash and Matt dressed up as cheerleaders that one time, you even had pigtails."

"Yeah, well Coach kind of yelled us into doing that, said we needed to support the cheerleaders and stuff."

"I did not '_yell you_' into doing that. I had to raise my voice 'cause we were out on the field and those tractors kept going back and forth."

"Anyway, did Julie have any advice for you on a class?

"She told me to avoid this one guy in the art department, kinda wild looking; said Seven was like an apprentice to him and the guy treated him like garbage. But I've never gone much for drawing and painting so…" Tim reached down and scratched Payton's stomach which caused her to sigh contentedly, which caused Eric to scowl.

"What about a class?"

"Woodworking. I think most people in the class would be making little tables or chest of drawers and I'd be fine with that, but I'd like to talk to the teacher about building a house, what type of wood and such."

"I think that's a fine idea," Eric said as he walked to the kitchen and poured a glass of ice tea, then joined them at the table. "But do you have any idea on how big you want the house to be, what it'll look like?

"Three stories including the attic, with a storm shelter. I want a porch going all the way around the house, with half of it enclosed, but I have no idea about blue prints or anything like that."

"I'm sure you could ask the teacher about that or they could recommend someone, or you could ask Buddy, he has to know someone. And Buddy could probably get you a little discount in exchange for something; there isn't a better deal maker this side of Houston. It sounds like you want to get started on the house soon."

Tim pushed his hair out of his eyes. "Yeah. I mean I appreciate you letting me stay here, but this isn't a long term thing, at least I hope it's not."

"It's the first day. There isn't any deadline for you to move out or anything like that. You need to get used to not being behind a razor wire fence."

* * *

Eric put his index card in the book and closed it. "Do you still have that academic conference coming up?"

"Counseling and academic conference. Yup, next week. Why?"

"There's gonna be networking and such right? That seems to be the only thing worthwhile at any conference these days. And what do you call them headhunters, there's gonna be some of them there."

Tami furrowed her brow. "Yes, there is networking, but some of the panels actually look interesting including the one I'm on. As for headhunters, I have seen people hand out resumes. Wha-?"

"Is this just a Texas thing or are there people there from around the country?"

"Mostly Texas but there's always some provosts and such from school districts and colleges from other states. Look, is this a long winded way of saying I need to start looking for another job?"

Eric sighed as he ran his hand over his face. "I-Levi came into my office which he's never done and we talked for nearly an hour today. He's got feelers and contacts with both high schools and both sets of boosters and the district board. He's heard that Dillon boosters are pushing for east Dillon to be closed or at least for the football program to be shut down, because it loses money and East Dillon is a wreck. They want to consolidate back to just Dillon."

"Are you sure?"

"He hasn't seen anything in writing, but something is gonna happen. He's right about the football program losing money; we've never had a sellout at a home game this season or last, even with the much smaller bleachers. And yeah I don't have as many players as there are at Dillon so equipment costs aren't as high, but I've got a fair number that play both sides, which means more injuries which costs more. Buddy and the boosters have been great subsidizing the program, but we don't have a Joe McCoy with a blank check. Levi thinks that even if we win State we're gonna get shut down and the school closed. Now I don't know if that means you'd be fired or what, but—"

"But what? I'd go back to counseling at Dillon."

"You would, huh, just like that?" Eric snapped his finger. "If it wasn't for Buddy neither of us would be working at east Dillon, we might not even be in Texas."

"Are you trying to say that I burned all my bridges at Dillon with Joe McCoy? Cause he's not there anymore."

"He isn't but almost every other booster who was there when you sashayed into their meeting and told them if Joe didn't back off about the mailbox you were gonna go to Def Con One and start the nukes flying is still there. I'm not saying you couldn't get a job at Dillon again, but it'd probably involve a fair bit of groveling." There was a faint whining followed by a scratching at the bedroom door. Eric got up and opened it and Jordan walked in jumped on the bed and started licking Tami's face. Eric grumbled under his breath as he got a glass of water from the bathroom. "And before you ask, yes the position of head football coach at Dillon is going to be open and I know I'll get asked about it even if East Dillon keeps the team going."

"Would you take it if it was offered to you?"

"The Dillon job?" Eric ran his hand up and down Jordan's chest. "I don't know if I could go back, no matter what they offered me."

"What if they offered you $400,000 a year?"

"Just to be football coach? No being a study hall proctor or teaching drivers ed or gym. Just coaching."

"Yup. Just coaching."

"$400,000? Where did you hear that?"

"I was talking with a counselor over at Dillon and of course things drifted to football and they said they'd seen a memo about the football coach's job and that was the salary."

"Were there any names of possible coaches on this memo?"

"You're on it and Mac McGill, along with Dean Grainly from Carter Finlay in Dallas."

"$400,000."

"$400,000."

"That's college coaching money."

"Yes it is."

"And you aren't going to get started on how outrageous that would be when East Dillon doesn't have enough money for chalk for the chalkboards, let alone whiteboards."

"Or fixing the ventilation system at Dillon so more than the athletic department gets working air conditioning. No, I'm not gonna vent about it. But I think that $400,000 is just for you. You're the first choice, then Mac then Dean. But they aren't gonna pay Mac or Dean $400,000 not even if they teach six classes in addition to coaching."

"But none of this is official, not the $400,000, not East Dillon closing, none of it."

"Not yet."

Eric took a sip of water. "Why's Julie calling here in the middle of the day, what's that all about?"

"She knew Tim was going to be getting out soon and staying with us. She cares about him and wanted to see if he was here."

"And if he wasn't she'd have left a message for him?"

"I don't know, maybe. What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Hey." Tami leaned over and kissed Eric. "What's wrong?"

"Julie."

"What? She's back at school, she's going to be home in about a month, sh—"

"Why doesn't she talk to me?"

"When?"

"When she calls?"

"Are you saying she called here in the middle of the day because she knew you wouldn't be here? C'mon now."

"No but—when she calls at night she talks to you, then to Gracie then to me but she hardly says anything, it's all short sentences."

"Seriously Eric you think Julie is the one being short? When I called about Tim last week she wanted to know why you didn't want to talk to her. She said that you never call her it's always me and you only talk to her for a couple of minutes and even then it's like you'd rather be anywhere than on the phone with her. She thinks you still blame her for Derrick."

It was quiet except for a soft sigh from Jordan.

"She's not wrong."

"Eric!"

"He's married. And she knew he was married. She mentioned it to both of us when we talked on the phone and in a couple of emails. Not that he and his wife were separated or in the middle of a divorce and he was free to—"Eric waved his hands in the air. "She knew he was married."

"That's what she told us and I believe her. But I also think that marriage was in trouble, Julie wasn't the first affair for him, but it might have been the last straw for his wife. My guess is that he kept on laying out this sob story to her about how he and his wife were having problems and he wanted to keep the marriage together but she was out of town a lot. You make it sound like Julie seduced him. I think it was the other way around."

"You think Julie is that naïve?"

"Well you've tried your hardest to scare off any boyfriends she might have, you almost scared off Matt, I wish you'd been around to scare off The Swede. Going to college, going away to college is a huge thing for kids. It isn't like the '70's and '80's when you'd take a year and hitchhike across Europe after graduation, now you have to get into college and out in four years, less if you can cram it in. So you go away from your parents for more than two weeks for the first time in your life and mom and dad might be kind of glad that the house is empty and the kid is really off the leash at college. Your roommate isn't going to make sure you get up every morning and get to class, that's on you. Mom and ad aren't there to scowl at you if you walk in at three in the morning and they can't ground you if you stay out all night. It's a lot of freedom, maybe too much."

"Well how is hitchhiking across Europe for a year any less off the leash than going away to school. Seems to me there's a lot more chances for getting in trouble doing something stupid there than in college."

"Well, the people I knew who did it or had done it did it with someone, they didn't go alone. Now in some cases it was a couple and they broke up along the way but, look, Julie feels that you're still punishing her for this."

"Still? It happened less than three months ago. So yes I'm still upset and angry about it and angry with her. The guy came to our house."

"You think Julie invited him to come over? It was clear she was just as upset as you were about him showing up here, or didn't you hear her saying, '_What are you doing here? You have to leave._' What did you expect her to do?"

"She never said anything to you that this guy was flirting with her or anything like that?"

Tami sighed. "I really wish we had gone with her and dropped her off. I'm not saying that would have prevented this but—I don't know. What do you want her to do? What does she have to do to earn back your respect and your forgiveness?"

"I almost want to blame Matt Saracen for it. If he hadn't up and left the—"

"You think they'd still be together? You think that if Matt was still here in Dillon and Julie was at college, maybe not where she is now but somewhere else that something like this wouldn't have happened? Not that she'd have slept with a married man, but hooking up and casual sex is even more common in college than in high school, thanks to easier access to alcohol. Now I'm not saying I wanted anything like that to happen, but if she was a thousand miles away from here and lonely, sometimes a phone call or Skype isn't enough. And Matt was more invested in their relationship than Julie was. She kept fending him off when he first got interested in her, and she's broken up with him twice." Tami rubbed Jordan's ear which earned her two wags of his tail. "If you want to be angry with her about deliberately crashing her car I can understand that, but she was terrified of going back to school. She had no idea if Derrick's wife was going to be waiting for her with a baseball bat or a gun."

Eric sighed. "I know, I can't protect her forever, I can't even really talk to her about boys and what they're like, I mean I talked with her about it but," he shook his head. "I keep thinking back to three years ago, the day before I had to go back to Austin early and she called me to come pick her up at this club. I had no idea how she got into the place, she doesn't have a fake ID, does she?" Tami shook her head. "Guess if you're a pretty girl a lot of doors open for you. Anyway, this place just looked, I guess sleazy, ten people standing around the door smoking, people drinking how does she end up there?"

"Is that really any different than one of the football parties she's been to?"

"The people at the club were a lot older?"

"Well aside from her being out so late I'd think the club was better, I believe the people there were at least a little more mature and responsible than a bunch of drunk high school kids and teenagers. And there's another difference, yes there were people drinking at the club, and a few of them were probably drunk, but most of them were there to see and hear the band, but at the football parties the most important is how drunk you get and how fast. She's made some mistakes and done some stupid things. But in her heart Julie is a good girl with good intentions.


End file.
